Introduction to the Study of The Holy Quran — Page 27
27 This contradiction also shows that historians of different persuasions have entered their views into the Bible, so that the Bible, as we know it today, cannot be regarded as a Book of God preserved in its original purity. (6) In II Samuel 6:23 we read: Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no child unto the day of her death. But in II Samuel 21:8 we read:. . . . and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite. The same book describes Michal as childless in one place and the mother of five sons in another. (7) Similarly in II Chronicles 21:19-20 we read that king Jehoram ascended the throne at the age of 32, reigned for 8 years; remained dethroned for two years: and then died of some fearful disease, i. e. he lived altogether for 42 years. But in the same book (22:1-2) we read: And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah his youngest son king in his stead: for the band of men that came with the Arabians to the camp had slain all the eldest. So Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah reigned. Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. The first passage states quite clearly that Jehoram was 42 years of age at the time of his death. But the second passage asserts that the youngest son of Jehoram, Ahaziah, was also 42 when he ascended the throne on the death of his father. Were father and son of the same age and were the other sons of Jehoram, who were killed in battle by the Arabians, older than their father? Can any rational human being make these contradictory statements? The father dies at the age of 42 years and his youngest son of the same age becomes king after him. Such statements will not be found even in an ordinary book, let alone a book revealed by God. There can be no doubt that these contradictions did not exist in the original revelation. They were not to be found in the utterances of the Prophets. Being contradictions they cannot be attributed to a single author. We have to assume that many authors entered their thoughts into the Book of God, hoping to have them treated as revelations. One author believed that Jehoram was 42 years of age when he died; so he wrote accordingly. Another thought that Jehoram was 100 years of age at the time of his death, and at that time his youngest son was 42 years of age; so he wrote accordingly. These statements are contradictory. We have to admit that the writer who believed that Jehoram died at 42 did not believe his son Ahaziah to be also 42 at the time of his father’s death, but possibly only 14 or 15. We have also to admit that the writer who believed Ahaziah to be 42 years of age at the time of his enthronement did not believe that his father at that time was also 42 years of age. The question is, what spiritual benefit can accrue from such a book? What faith or trust can such a book inspire in its readers? If the claim had been that the Torah is a collection of statements made by many hundreds